Tiger Woods has paid the ultimate compliment to close friend Rory McIlroy by urging son Charlie to model his game on the Northern Irishman.
The progress of 13-year-old Charlie is unsurprisingly being closely monitored by ardent fans of Woods after his impressive showings alongside his legendary father in the PNC Championship in Orlando.
Fans have had to wait a little longer for 15-time major champion Woods' comeback to competitive golf after he pulled out of the Hero World Challenge on Monday citing plantar fasciitis, a foot injury developed when he began walking courses again.
But Woods has still been present at Albany for his own event as he continues his rehabilitation following his latest setback. And he took time to speak about his son's golfing development whilst on commentary duty during the tournament.
Woods believes son Charlie should aim to replicate the incredibly mobile swing of McIlroy rather than his own, after a recent video of the young teenager's swing left excited fans making comparisons to the world No 1.
"I told [Charlie], ‘Don’t copy my swing. Copy Rory’s," Woods said. "Have you ever seen Rory off balance on a shot? No. Not ever. You can swing as hard as you want, but you need to have balance."
McIlroy arguably boasts the most beautiful swing in the modern era, while his glorious action is also the most effective as he crushes his drives with maximum power and so-often unerring accuracy.
And Woods - who has been through an evolution of swing changes throughout his storied career with various coaches - is clearly a huge advocate of McIlroy's dynamic technique. It is clear that Woods will be keen to temper such sky-high expectations on Charlie to repeat his own transformative success.
But Woods is leaning on the advice his father Earl famously gave him to improve his own son's mental fortitude on the course. Asked by NBC's Paul Azinger if he is using a similar approach with Charlie to what his father took with him, Woods replied: "It's non-stop, non-stop."
"It's trying to get him - if I can get into his head, that means someone else can get into his head. It's going to get to a point where I can't get into his head, and then no one else can get in there either."
